Several Miles From The Sun
by arkangel221
Summary: CPS comes to the Weasleys house because a new neighbor calls because she sees 4 children running wild in their yard, the children are dirty all the time, are never supervised, and the house looks like its about to fall apart... *on hold*
1. Chapter 1

I said a full summery would be inside so here it is…

CPS comes to the Weasleys house because a new neighbor calls because he sees 4 children running wild in their yard, the children are dirty all the time, are never supervised, and the house looks like its about to fall apart. Ron and Ginny are put into long term foster care, but in separate houses! Now Ron has to find a way to track down his sister and prove that his parents didn't neglect them. All the while trying to live the best muggle life as he can. Will he slide into a depression or will his new found love for the guitar and writing songs help him get over these troubling times

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Male Voice: "Hello, Child Protective Services, how may I help you?"

Female Voice: nervous "uhh… yeah I want ter make an anonymous report about some neglected kids."

"Very well, what makes you believe the children are neglected?"

"Well, I moved in to dis house aroun' de end of June dat's just 'bout da time kids are supposed ter be gettin' out of scoo… well anyway, since den I haven' seen dare parents not even once! But I kin tell you what I sho do hear da movher. Or what I fink is da movher. Dat lady be screamin' day an' night!"

"Anything else, ma'am?"

"Yeah, now dat I tink about it. It be lookin' to me that dese poor kids haven' had new clothes in years. The youngest boy's, I not sho his name, pants are so small his legs be makin' it look like dare be flood comin'. All of em' is outside all da time; I don't tink day got any sort of entertainment, day always be wanderin' around wid a deflated red ball, you know the kind day let kindergarteners play wif?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Yeah well, dat's whad it be lookin' like, only it be needin' a good pumpin'. An' day all got dese brooms, not dem plastic ones, dese be made out of twigs an' such! Dose poor kids wanderin' into da forest at all hours of da day with dis deflated ball an' brooms! As if day play some weird sort of game."

"Thank you ma'am, now is there anything you can tell me about the children's housing?"

"Housing? Oh yeah, that's a dozy dare. Da house they be livin' in look like it sho be condem'd. Half da walls be fallin' over an' it be always groanin'. I kin hear it way over here. Now I not be sho, but ain't it against da law to be havin' farm animals in da city?"

"Yes ma'am, it is. Are there farm animals on the property?"

"Sho, I won't say nothing if dare wasn't! Dare be pigs an' chickens all over da yard! An' dead cars an' computer parts, an' jus' random tings of dat sort!"

"Thank you ma'am, I think you have given us enough information to send some one out to see into the complaint. All I need you to do now is give me the address so I can send an agent out first thing in the morning."

"Oh well, I don't know de exact address, but all you need to be doin' is drivin' south from Ottery St. Catchpole on da main road, and look for da house dat be seemin' like its goin'a fall down. It sho be havin' a sign in front dat say 'Da Burrow'."

"Yes ma'am that seems simple enough. I want to thank you for reporting this, and not to feel guilty, you may have saved a life today."

"Guilty, why I be feelin' guilty? I be doin' the right ting!"

"Some people believe that it's not their problem or that they are wrong so they don't report anything, and if they do they start feeling guilty that they broke up a family."

"What a bunch oh shit, dat what I be sayin'. Day sho be guilty dat day didn' call yous people up."

"That's what I think ma'am; anyway a Social Worker will be around to check out the claim tomorrow afternoon. Thank you and have a great day."

Click

"Yeah, Sho…"

Click

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Well hello again all! This is going to be the beginning of my new fic! Yea!! A new fic!! Whoo hoo!!! And no it will not all be in script format. I don't have a clue when the next chapter will be out; I'm the sort of person that writes whenever the sprit hits them, so, what ever. Oh and don't ask about the southern black accent, it just came out that way.


	2. Chapter 2

Ah, god I can never remember to put a disclaimer on the first chapter. Well, guess what people none of the character you recognize belongs to me. They all belong to the great goddess JK Rowling (bow before her you puny mortals!) who began the Harry Potter craze in the first place. So with that, on with this… uhh, I guess you would call it a fic… type… thing… yeah…

**Warning! Warning! Bad Geography ahead!**

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Social Worker Claudia Bailey's day started out just as normal as anyone else's day, thank you vary much. She woke up at six thirty on the dot just as she had done (almost) every day for ten years. Waited for her computer to boot while she took a shower and then checked her e-mail; deleting (almost) all the porn, and saving the work related mails. She ate, made coffee, picked out a suite for the day, and put on her face all while listening to her favorite CD. Then, car keys in hand, she was out the door by eight thirty, yes a perfectly normal day…

"Claudia!" normal, that is, until she got to her office… Barton Baxter, head supervisor for Claudia's level, stuck his head out of his office door and screeched again. "Claudia! Get your ass in here! Don't make me fire you!" She rubbed at her temples, oh god, she thought, not another fucking migraine. Setting her briefcase down on her desk, she ambled slowly into her boss's office.

BB, as some of Barton's underlings called him (his initials could also stand for Bitchass Bastard), stood facing a window that looked down out over a busy main street. Claudia didn't care what the damned street was called, she never used it anyway, rubbing at her temples again she flopped into a chair. "Claudia." Baxter said, "you're late again, are you trying to make me fire you?" yes… completely normal. "BB, I'm always late! What do you want from me, to be on time? You would need to find a girl that does my job as well, if not better then me, for half the price. Do you think you could do that?" Claudia could tell that Baxter was grinding his teeth. "I should fire you," he said slowly, "just for that. But not now, I don't have the time and I have a job for you." Oh goody, Claudia thought, just what I wanted, something to add to my migraine. "I've already had some people on this one," he turned and handed Claudia a file from his desk, "the parents are seemingly unemployed, and they have seven kids." Claudia let out a low whistle. "But to our knowledge only a few of them live at home now."

Claudia nodded her head and skimmed across the anonymous call in about the family. 'But I kin tell you what, I sho do hear dat movher. Or what I fink is da movher. Dat lady be screamin' day an' night!' this caught Claudia's eye, she knew what growing up with a mother that screamed all the time was like, she shuddered, she didn't like to think about that time in her life. "I want you to take officers Arland, and Dermot with you and get out there as soon as possible, you got that?" Claudia nodded, still reading the report. "THAT MEANS NOW, BAILEY!" now if you have never been shot with a sound arrow you have to consider yourself lucky, for that was exactly what happened to Claudia Bailey; not only did it make her jump out of her seat and flee the room but it split her head in two, and made her brain fall on to the floor.

Walking back to her cubicle, Claudia popped four ibuprofen into her mouth; she swallowed quickly and grimaced at the sour taste of the pills. "Well good golly miss molly, what was that all about?" oh god, was this migraine ever going to go away? Not with people like the 16 year old intern that had been hired for the summer that was fruiter then Toucan Sam stopping in to say hi every 2 minutes. "I've got a head ache. Just drop the mail on the desk and go away." The boy looked a little put off. "Well that's no way to say hi, grumpy gills."

She growled narrowed her eyes into slits. "Hi."

"Well, I guess I can accept that. But tomorrow I want a big smile and a hug from you!" ignoring her glare, he just smiled as he flipped through the mail in his little cart and plucked some out. "Oh and do you want this? It's from your mother, third one this week, I think you should read it." Claudia snatched the letter from his hand, "If I wanted your opinion, I'd beat it out of you!" and tossed the letter into the trashcan. The boy tossed the rest of Claudia's mail on her little cubicle desk and sashayed away with a harrumph.

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The drive out to Ottery St. Catchpole was a good 1½ hour that Claudia could have done with out. Dirt roads, the constant white noise from the police radio Dermot refused to turn off and Arland's sense of direction (which had gotten them lost 3 times), had culminated in another headache that was, if she wasn't careful, going to lead to another migraine. Growling, she pushed her hand against the ceiling of the patrol car as Dermot drove over another pothole. "I swear if you drive over another pothole, I'll put a hole in you skull!" Dermot rolled his eyes and sighed, "don't blame me lady, it's not me fault that this place is way out in the bleedin' boonys where the government don't take care of the roads. Her comes anuvver one!" Claudia screeched as Dermot swerved out of the way of one hole and bounced into another. "That were a big one, that were!" rubbing her head with one hand Claudia's other smacked Dermot upside the head. "Remind me to kill you when we get back to London." Dermot smiled. "Hey now yer wouldn't kill me, yer like me too much. Besides I'm ter handsome ter murder."

Officer Arland (who was in a patrol car behind Claudia and Dermot after Dermot had refused to get lost again) had stayed strangely silent during the entire trip, not bothering to pick his mike to shoot pointless banter back and forth with Dermot, as per his style. It wasn't that he didn't want to or that he was in a bad mood it was just that he felt like there was something serious was going to go down today. Not something bad per say, just something wrong that you couldn't stop, but only stand back and watch, wishing there was something you could do to stop it. Arland sighed again and watched through the back window of the car in front of himself. Ginning he suddenly remembered why he didn't want Claudia Bailey riding with him; she was the biggest complainer and side seat drivers DSHS had ever seen. But that was fine with him, he couldn't stand her and Dermot had fallen head over heals for her since the first time they went out kid hunting (as Arland had coined it) together. Arland had never like doing this job, he only needed the extra shifts since he was going to become a proud father himself, he was just glad this wasn't his only gig; he liked the security job at the local high school much better, the company was better too. Well, Arland thought, that's neither here nor there, and none of my business. Still, even as he watched Dermot swerve from running over another pothole and then swerve again to miss hitting an old wooden sign that proclaimed 'Welcome to Ottery St. Catchpole!' that odd sinking felling would just not go away.

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Claudia popped the lock of the cruiser door and stepped out onto the old gravel road leading to the shack appropriately called 'The Burrow'. Glancing at the five (A/N: I think it's five), stories of mismatched well… stories, she wanted to retrieve a roll of yellow CONDEMED tape and string it across the whole of the property. It just wasn't safe; she didn't know how or why the place hadn't fallen down yet. But far from that most of the other parts of the report were pretty dead on. There were dead car parts all over the lawn and inside a small run down looking garage she could see what looked like a bench saw whirring away. Claudia immediately whipped out a pocket notebook and began to make notes about anything she saw.

"1. Wild animals running freely in yard,

2. Rundown garden,

3. Dangerous tools left running,

4. House in very bad repair,

5. Automotive and computer trash litter yard."

She could have written more but when she turned around there was a red haired woman wiping her hands on a thread bare kitchen towel and staring pointedly at her. "Can I help you?" the plump woman asked pleasantly, the other two fools might not have heard the snide undertones, but Claudia had been doing this so long she had heard every tone there was to hear in the business.

"Mrs. Weasley I presume?"

"Yes, and you are?"

"Oh! I'm sorry," Claudia pulled her wallet and flashed her ID at Molly long enough for her to get a glimpse of her name and age but that was all. "I'm with the Child Protection Services; my department recently had an anonymous report that claimed that your children seem to be neglected." Molly's face was one of shock and horror. "What!" she shrieked, "I've never beat my children a day in their lives!" the social worker put up her hands. "Mrs. Weasley I never said you did and neither did the report! I didn't mean to alarm you! This is just routine check," that was a lie, if what she found in that house was as bad as what were out here, these kids were as good as gone. "We have to check out each claim to see if there is any truth to it." To Claudia's great relief the woman calmed down slightly, "Ma'am, I don't like this part of my job any more then you do, but please may we take a look around inside the house?"

Molly seemed to think about it for a second then responded. "Can you wait just a moment, I need to uh… call my husband at work, and I think he should be here for this." Claudia wiped out her notebook; "you mean he's not unemployed?" her pen at the ready, Molly was suddenly reminded of Rita Skeeter. "Of course he has a job! How do you think we pay the bills?" Molly turned and after making sure the Muggles were going to stay put out side, turned and fled into the safety of her home.

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Molly was frantic when her husband Arthur finally came to the floo. "Molly, Molly dear, please, stop crying, what's wrong, did something happen to one of the children?" Molly wiped her eyes on the towel she had been drying her hands on earlier, "oh Arthur, it's horrible! There's some Muggle woman here. She said she was from the Child Protection Services and she has two please-men with her!" Arthur looked calm, but molly had been married to him for over thirty years she knew better then to be fooled, his eyes always gave him away. "Oh, what should I do? She wants to come inside! I can't let a muggle come in here! I told you to put up the

Notice–me–not wards again!"

Arthur let his wife rant as he thought for a moment; ranting had always seemed to calm her each of the Weasley men knew this. "Molly listen, go into our room and get me a pair of jeans and a white t–shirt…" she did so, and pushed them into the green fire where Arthur's head had been a moment before, "now," he said when he returned, "run around the house and try to make it as muggle like as possible that means no clock, no self washing dishes or self knitting jumpers, and try to quite the ghoul. Then let the lady have a look around. Try your best to explain away any thing that may seem 'unnormal'," he said making quotes, "to her. Tell her that you called me on a cell phone and I have to walk in from the next village over and will be home in twenty minutes." Molly nodded her head dried her tears now that she had a plan of action she didn't feel near as nervous as before, and blew a kiss at her husband. It took Molly all of two minutes to cast a series of Notice–me–not charms on various objects in the house, disengage the washing and knitting, and shout up the stairs at the ghoul to "Shut up! We have muggle guests!" before letting all three of the said 'guests' inside the kitchen door.

Claudia's reaction was immediate, pen and notebook in hand she began to scribble more notes,

"1. Wild animals running freely in yard,

2. Rundown garden,

3. Dangerous tools left running,

4. House in very bad repair,

5. Automotive and computer trash litter yard

**Inside house**

6. Piles of unwashed dishes,"

She watched as one of Ginny's 'pet' cockroaches' scuttled around her feet. The bug was immediately squashed under one of Molly's hefty feet; the woman gave Claudia a sheepish smile. Ms. Bailey only grimaced and scribbled again,

"7. House suffering from insect infestation."

By the time Ms. Bailey was done she had amassed a list of about fifteen things that had made her come to one solid fact that no one was changing her mind about; these children were leaving **_today_**!

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Thank you everyone ever so much for reading this it just makes my day! Hugs self any way please review! That would make everything even better!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long wait I got myself a 'divorce' going on here. Not mine – my parents. Sad – no, not really – they hate each other with a purple passion – I'm surprised it lasted this long. Any how, I don't know that much about British or American child care systems so I'm just going to go with what sounds good and what I have seen in the movies, (roles eyes) yeah I know it's not a very good source of info but ehh… what can ya do?

Beginning lyrics:  
Liz Phair  
Flower

Second lyrics:  
Maroon 5  
Not Falling Apart

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Ron Weasley sat with his back to one of the ancient trees that framed the very edge of the clearing that the Weasley children had been playing Quidditch in for as long as any of them could remember. Smiling he watched as his two twin brothers toss a Quaffle back and forth between them much to quickly for Ginny, his sister, to catch. Ron sniggered at his sister's vain attempt to retrieve the ball, dipping his quill into a small bottle of ink that sat snuggly against his thigh. Sighing, Ron opened the book that was propped lightly against his knee to his latest work and scribbled a few new lines. 

'Your face reminds me of a flower  
Kind of like you're underwater  
Hair's too long and in your eyes  
Your lips a perfect suck me size'

Sighing, Ron closed his eyes and let his head rest on the tree be hind him. Everything was going right for a change, he had passed all his OWL's, the weather was fine, all his homework was done (just because his mother made him get it done early this summer), and Harry only had to stay at the Dursley's long enough to revitalize the ward around Number 4 and he could come over; that was about two weeks. Everything was just going Right. Smiling, Ron soaked in all the feelings all around him, the sun shining on his face; birds chirping in the trees, cool grass below him, and the sounds of someone breathing in his ear… wait, the sounds… "Gees, Ron that's kind of perverted don't ya think?" Ron snapped the book shut around his finger, popped the cork in his ink bottle and stood; and even Before Fred knew what was happening Ron had smacked him upside the head. Fred rubbed the top of his head where he was walloped, "Ow! Jebus! What was that for?" now another voice entered the one-sided conversation, "It serves you right Fred Weasley, Ron's told you not to read over his shoulder ten million times."

"Very well, dear sister we won't."  
"Give it back!"  
"Don't worry Ron, we will…"  
"Eventually…"  
"George! I mean it!"  
"Now let's see here,"  
"I'll tell mum!"  
"Ahh, here we go… I don't mind, falling in the water…"  
"Stop reading that…!"  
"No one ever notices me, I lay under the waves"  
"Fred I'm gonna kill you!"  
"I don't mind, falling in the water"  
"Now Ron you don't mean that!"  
"No one ever notices me, I lay under the waves"

Frowning, Fred handed the book back to his youngest brother, "Marlins Balls Ron, that's depressing." growling Ron snatched the book out of Fred's hand, "You don't even know what it means! It's happy if you sing it like it's supposed to be sung." George smiled ruefully, "Sorry Ron we didn't know you were writing SONGS. So instead you're not writing perverted and angstfull poetry, but perverted and angstfull music…" he looked at his twin, "Mum'd be so happy if someone in her family has artistic talent. Wonder she if knows?" the youngest male redhead frowned "You wouldn't dare!"

"Not I… but my dearest sister might…" Ron's brother said pointing at the retreating figure of the lone female Weasley sibling.

Quickly gathering his things (ink, quill, muddy shoes, wet shirt from when he had fallen – or maybe should he say pushed – into the pond) he took off after his little sister. "Hey, hey Ginny, you wouldn't tell mum, now would you?"

"Tell her what?" she asked, smiling a little at her brother, "Ron you would really think that I would tell her about your book so she could push you to write more and more until you couldn't stand to put one more word to paper? You must be out side your mind." Still walking he wrapped an arm around Ginny and kissed her grimy cheek. She grimaced and rubbed it off on her shoulder before stepping onto the veranda of the Weasley home. "Well Gin-gin, are you gonna spill on Ron?" George asked, as he and Fred stopped next to the duo. "No I'm not, and you had better no…"

Fred whipped up a hand suddenly and cut off Ginny rant, "Quiet, do you hear that?"  
"Yeah, but what is it?"  
"Sounds like someone's crying,"

"All right then, whose crying?" the four siblings began looking around until suddenly Ron opened his mouth and said, "Its mum…" They each stared in through the window Ron was looking at, and inside they could see their mother crying her eyes out, their father holding her, two men in blue uniforms, and a woman in a suite who was talking vigorously with her hands. Ron's eyebrows descended until a glair was present, shoving Fred and George out of his way Ron stomped over to the kitchen door and slammed it open.

Each of the occupants stared at the shirtless redheaded boy that had just burst into the room. Claudia's nose scrunched, have these children no clothes, she thought. "Ron Weasley, where is your shirt?" molly sniffed her tears away and rose from her chair to try and look menacing. "Fred and George pushed me into the pond." he said, somehow it didn't matter even if he was on a mission to avenge his mother against the people that had made her cry she still managed to make him feel like a first year. "It's outside… drying." He lied; he kept looking back and forth between the new comers, his father, and his mother. "Fine then," molly sighed and whipped a few lose tears from her plump cheeks, "go up stairs and make yourself presentable," she glanced at the oddities in the kitchen, "we have some special guests. That goes for you too Ginny Weasley." The aforementioned girl scampered after the boy and out off the kitchen. For the first time since the children had started showing up Arthur spoke. "I think that it's time for you two to leave," he now twisted his head to the window the twins were still looking though, "go home. I'll call you later on my cell." The twins looked at each other the word 'cell' had always been floo in order business when talking around Muggles. They nodded at their father, left the house, walked to the edge of the forest and apparated home to the flat above Weasley Wizard Wheezes to wait for the 'call' from their worry stricken father.

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Miss Bailey hadn't gotten a good look at the girl that had run fearfully from her mothers hard words but what she did see was that her face was filthy with caked dirt, and her hair had small sticks and tufts of grass in it. Or should she say when was the last time that girl had taken a shower? Claudia sighed, that was it that was the last straw – the one that broke the camels back so to speak – she couldn't take it anymore. The social worker turned in her set and pulled on the cuff of Arland's uniform, the silent code that said now or never. Standing up, Miss Bailey addressed the distraught parents before her, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I'm very, very sorry to tell you this, but when I first got here I said this was an evaluation visit only. I lied." Molly sobbed harder, "I came here today to see if there was any truth to the report that my office received earlier this week. And I'm afraid that I'm going to have to have your children come with officers Dermot and Arland and I."

For just about the first time the father Arthur, Claudia believed his name, to be stood from his position around his wife. "I don't understand," he said meekly, "we've never beat out children, we feed and clothe them, and they have a roof over their heads… what reason could you possibly find to take away our pride and joy?" she hated this part of her job, when they tried to guilt trip her into letting the kids stay… Claudia was a hard nose, once she made up her mind it stayed that way. "Mr. Weasley, I don't want to insult you or your wife, but you asked me. Your house is filthy," Mrs. Weasley gasped, "I keep a spotless house!" Claudia continued nonplused by the interruption, "I have seen cockroaches climb not only on the floor, but on counter tops, into cupboards, and across furniture. It is, frankly, disgusting. There are dangerous tools left running were any one can get access to them, and the trash that's outside is non–excusable. Not only that, but it is my opinion that before you may have you children returned to you that you find a new place to live, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, your home looks like its about to fall down." Both Weasleys were now listening with slack jawed mouths. "I'm very sorry; I have made my decision and that is the way it will stay. You will now have to go through the courts to get you children back. You obviously love them very much and I sympathize with you and I will help you as much as I can. Now if you please, will you please tell the children to pack a few things and officer Dermot will help you."


	4. Chapter 4

Ron didn't understand what his mother was trying to tell him, hand still clutching the towel he had wrapped around his waist as he stepped from the shower. Now he stood slack jawed, and dripping wet in the center of his room, staring at his mother in utter bewilderment. "Wha – what do you mean we have to leave?" Molly pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes and broke out into a fresh string of tears. "OH Ron," she wailed, "they think we don't take care of you!" There was no need to ask who 'we' was; his mother had always grouped his father and herself together. "But why," he looked from his mother to the man in blue that he assumed was a muggle 'please-men' (no, that wasn't right. what was it that Hermione had called them? ahh… oh yeah, a _police_ man) in a panic. Mrs. Weasley only sobbed harder and clutched at her son, who jumped out of the way, "Mum! I'm not dressed! Can I have a few minutes, Please?" she fled the room and gave Ron an odd look that made him slightly weirded out for a few seconds as he rushed around his orange room gathering a few clean clothes (or what smelt clean) and slapping them onto his body, before allowing his mother back inside.

Molly went back into the same position she left in, her arms thrown around Ron's shoulders. She was still sobbing and mumbling things that made no sense to Ron. "Mum, common mum. Leggo. Tell me what's going on." The matriarch of the Weasley clan held her youngest son at arms length and regarded him with a heavy eye. "Tell me I'm a good mum," she said, shaking her son a bit, "say I'm a good mum to you!"

"Yes! Merlin! You're a good mum! A great mum even. Now please," Ron begged, "tell me what in the world is going on!" Molly sat on Ron's orange comforters which now had a picture of a famous Muggle band instead of the Chuddly Cannons, and buried her hands in her apron. "Someone called child protective services on us…" Ron blinked several times; "they said that we are neglectful of you," The teen's hackles started to rise and his eye teeth were suddenly visible. "Who in Merlin's name would say something like that? I've always been safe and fed, and never been hit in my life!" Molly wiped a few tears from her eyes and nodded, "I know Ron, but we have no choice now, you have to go with them. Plus their Muggles…"

"Muggles!"

"So you have to leave anything normal here…"

Ron's door was suddenly slammed open by a blast of female red hair that could only be a Ginny Weasley. "Mum! Mum! Dad says that we have to pack up and leave with a bunch of Muggles who think we're being neglected! What's this all about?!" Arthur appeared solemnly at Ron's door, Ginny's chest already packed and ready to be sent downstairs. Molly stared at her daughter for a moment, before looking at the floor and nodding her head. "I'm sorry Ginny, but… it's true." Ginny mouth fell open in a silent scream. Arthur shook his head and held his only daughter, "we're sorry… but this is just as sudden to us as it is to you. One moment we're each having a great day then everything went to hell and back. I wish that a spell or a charm could put everything right but that just can't happen. The file work is already in their muggle com-pu-ters and magic can't effect them." Ron shook his head and scrunched his face up, "I won't go! They can't make me!" it was molly this time that was the voice of reason. "Stop being so childish Ronald Weasley! Why do you think those Muggle please-men are down there? They will take you by force if they have to!" Molly suddenly stood, eyes squinted against tears, as her wand waved in harsh patterns. Ron's trunk opened and everything that he hadn't unpacked yet from the last school year zoomed to its proper place and things like clothes and books disguised as muggle books for summer homework was put inside. "This… this is re-really happening…" Ginny stuttered in disbelief, "You're really just going to let us go like this?" Arthur hugged his daughter tightly to his chest, quickly quieting her tears and sobs. "Oh no Ginny, we are going to fight! What in Merlin's name made you think that we wouldn't? As soon as the coast is clear we're fire-calling Dumbledore; if anyone he'll know what to do." The four Weasley's stood in that orange painted room in unsaid fear and sadness, for none of them knew what was about to happen in any of their lives.

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Claudia paced the Weasley's kitchen constantly looking at her gold and leather watch she had bought at a fancy boutique in northern London. The face was made of gold leaf and little diamonds had been set in set where the numbers should have been. She hated every square centimeter of the damned thing. It had to be the tackiest thing that she had ever bought herself; she had only bought it because she wanted something that looked expensive. But now as she pulled up her sleeve once again she wounded if she should take it off and fling it in to the trash dump that these people had called a home. Pushing down her sleeve Claudia growled, "That's it, Arland!"

"Ow! Jesus Christ! You don't need to yell in my ear, I'm right here you know."

"Yeah, right…. Would you _**please**_ go upstairs and tell these people to hurry up. Twenty minutes is more then enough time to pack and say some goodbyes."

Arland's jaw dropped, is that all the time she gave people? Twenty minutes to split up an entire family for unknown amounts of time, twenty minutes to come to terms that you may never see your children again, that they were now in the care and mercy of a bunch of people they don't even know? As he climbed the tricky old stair case, he shook his head, and thought to himself, 'That woman has a heart of ice and the soul as friendly as an artic wind.' He didn't know what happened in her life to make her enjoy doing her job so much and be such a bitch at it but it didn't matter to him, all he knew was that he hated his job as much if not more then Claudia liked hers. Regularly he was just a hired security guard for his nephew's high school, but now that his wife was pregnant he needed the extra cash and took the first job that the chief of the London P.D. had had requested of him. So here he was doing something he absolutely despised just because some asshole… Arland rubbed his chest; no… it was better not to think about where the indent he felt under his fingers came from.

Climbing the last few steps he heard muffled voices coming from a room marked by a paper sign which read 'Ronald's Room'. Arland knocked softly on the door, "umm… Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, umm… Claudia says it's time to go." Nothing happened for a few seconds until the door was slowly pulled open by the young girl who had looked like she had had a bad hermit case. But now she was clean and her hair had been brushed out in to straight red locks, her clothes were clean and the air around her seamed to sparkle with an unseen power. She squinted and held her quivering upper lip in check. "How could you do this?" she asked her voice thick with unshed tears, "how can you split up a family like this? It just isn't right!" Arland signed and looked at the rest of the people in the room. They all had the same question in their eyes 'why?' "Listen," he sighed, "it's not my decision to make. It's that bitch's downstairs."

"Don't use that langue in front of my children!"

"Sorry. If I had my way I would've just left well enough a lone. Truth be told, I don't like myself as much as you people like me right now." The five people just stared at each other for a few seconds until Arthur repressed a hiccup of sadness and picked up his daughters red trunk and push his way past Arland and downstairs. The boy, Ron Arland assumed, shoved a few things from his desk into his pockets, picked up a book and an old fashioned fountain pen, picked up his own trunk which was a dark blue and fallowed his father down the steps. The officer sighed at the two crying women and waved them out of the room. "I'm really sorry…" he said as they passed by him, "if I could stop this I would."

Down in the kitchen Claudia continued to tap her foot on the floor as Arthur and Ron entered the room and frowned when Mr. Weasley took his son by the shoulder and led him back into the hall before making him look him in the eye and whispering something she couldn't hear.

"Listen to me Ron, you need to control your temper, remember that these people don't have something you have. Never let them know that you are a wizard, you here me?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have your wand?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Good, keep it hidden and don't let anyone take it from you. Guard it like your life depends on it. I will fill out an emergency underage wizardry form for both you and Ginny. Hopefully both of you can use magic out side of school by the end of the week."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say that's awesome or that sucks!" Ron said bowing his head in frustration. Hugging his youngest son to his chest Arthur finally let a few stray tears roll down his checks. "Oh god, I'm going to miss you Ron." Ron hugged back and gripped at his father's shirt, "I still don't want to go." He said seriously, in a deadpan voice of resignation.

But before Arthur could answer, the social worker interrupted their talk, "I don't mean to interrupt but we really need to get out of here, so if you will fallow Officer Dermot here out to the cruisers it would be greatly appreciated." Before Claudia could say anything more, two women's sobbing forms came down from somewhere up the staircase. Nothing was said between the four family members, everything that needed to be said had already been said. It was all up to destiny now.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Arland slammed the trunk of the car shut and slipped into the front seat. He repositioned the rear view mirror, looked past the two heart broken teens to the wicked witch of the south who was giving the parents a list of numbers they should call and people they should set up appointments with. He felt like a two toned purple spotted slug when he saw the girl brake down in her brothers arms, who wasn't doing to well himself. "Don't worry Gin-gin, we'll get back home." His voice was as thick as fresh engine sludge, "they can't keep us forever, remember we still have to go to school. You know they can't keep us from that." Arland shoved an eyebrow into his hairline, "um… I know you probably hate me, but I hope you don't mind me asking, what school is this you go to?" Ron glared at the man, "We go to a very select, very, very expensive boarding school in Scotland." Arland was shocked to say the least, how was it that these people afforded a school all the way in Scotland? Ah you know teens, probably lying anyhow. Well it didn't matter now he just wanted to get out of here and try to forget that he split up another family today.

Turning the key in the ignition and resting his head on his hand he waited for Claudia to get in to the lead cruiser and give the signal to get the show on the road. But to his surprise she opened his passenger side door, climbing in she told him to follow Dermot who was already driving away. Sighing, Arland shifted the car into gear and regretfully pushed the accelerator down, watching a rooster tail of tan dust escape into the air as the four of them drove away. Ron and Ginny turned in their seats, each hoping for one last look at the place where they had had grown up. Between the tears that each of them shed and the dust cloud growing from the back of the patrol car the world looked like an old western movie that just kept rolling and rolling.

Watching their parents fade farther and farther away Ron could feel a seeping blackness that he had never felt before enter his heart. It was a strangling feeling even stronger then a Dementor's pull on all his happy memories. Feeling silent tears slide from his eyes Ron waved vigorously to his parents silently making a vow that he would be with his family again even if he had to kill to do it.

The two teens remained on their knees until the car turned onto the main street of Ottery Saint Catchpole. Having lived in the same home for generations the Weasley's were always a semi respected family in town, most everybody that knew who they were said hello whenever one of the Weasley's would turn up in town. Now two of the famous Weasley clan were being driven away in a cop car, and no one knew what to think. The Weasley kids are good kids, they would think, what could they have gotten in trouble for? An older man stepped out of the oldest shoe shop in the town and shook his head, brown hair falling into his eyes, and said "May god love you and keep you and make his face shine upon you." Before crossing himself and turning back into his store. Several other people decided to pray at mass for the local family's problem to be resolved quickly, but some others, who had known the Weasley's knew they weren't religious and made a pact to go see them as soon as possible.

As Arland maneuvered the cruiser on to the road out of Ottery Saint Catchpole Claudia turned in her seat and regarded the two Weasley's for a moment. Finally, she spoke, "Someday you'll thank me for this." Pushing some of her nasty brownish blond hair from her eyes, Claudia nodded as if trying to convincing herself. "Everything will work out for the better." Ron's mouth went slack in utter disbelief, but it was Ginny who spoke first. "Trust?" she snorted, "you don't know the first thing about trust! People you trust don't burst into your home; take you away from your parents! Not even an hour ago I was playing keep away with my brothers, an' everything was just fine. Now I don't know what's going to happen to me." Ginny wiped some of her tears away, "I didn't even find all my bugs!" Claudia raised an eyebrow, "Your bugs?" Ginny stuck her nose in the air and crossed her arms, "yeah, I like entomology, what about it?" Claudia just wrinkled her nose in disgust; in her mind there were certain things that a girl (or woman) liked and insects just weren't one of them. Ginny clutched at Ron's hand, "Mum doesn't know what to feed Grinhilda; she's very temperamental she could die! And what about Suzy? I haven't been able to find her all week!"

Rolling his eyes Ron couldn't believe his sister, "you're impossible Ginny," he said "we're being taken from home and all you can think about is your bloody stick bug that got away." Ginny glared and stabbed Ron in the chest, "I am not impossible, Ronald Weasley! I happen to've spent a lot of money on that insect! It came all the way from Peru!" Ron rolled his eyes, "oh sar-ieee! All hail Ginny; queen of all creepy crawly things!" Ginny slugged him in his shoulder.

Claudia saw this and her eyes narrowed, "please don't assault your brother Ginny. We should all get along." All of the other people in the car rolled their eyes. But arland was the only one to speak up. "Oh come on Claudia, you know she hardly assaulted him. Everyone's siblings punch them when their being thick." The social worker just turned to sit in her seat properly, "well I am an only child so I never had to deal with that sort of thing," she said with a snuff. 'Well no wonder she only investigates cases with more then one kid' he thought to himself as he turned onto the highway to London.

Ron quickly forgave his sisters sillynessess about her bugs, and held her tightly to his side as the car they sat in merged with the thousands of muggle ones they never paid much attention to until now. The two children and even the one disheartened cop wondered what was going to happen to them now.


End file.
